A 1-year investigation of writing took place in an urban second grade and focused on three low-income African American children with different reading abilities in their third year of whole language instruction. Data collection included written artifacts, structured interviews at the beginning and end of the school year, and field notes. Artifacts…

This study examined a Preparatory Course for Blacks and the Economically Disadvantaged (PBED) in a poor area of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The PBED is an alternative educational project that offers regular classes on evenings and weekends using volunteer labor, donated space, and contributions from students who can afford it. Case studies were used…

This monograph provides an overview of federal laws relevant to the provision of educational services to preschool children with disabilities (as well as additional laws pertaining to children who are homeless) and examines implementation of these laws in New York City. It begins with an overview of federal legislation including the Individuals…

The student population of urban schools reflects widely diverse socioeconomic, linguistic, and ethnic backgrounds, yet few teacher training programs are currently addressing the need to recruit and train teachers reflecting this diversity. The Seattle Public Schools/Western Washington University (SPS/WWU) post-baccalaureate paraprofessional…

This study evaluates an alternate model for middle school education, which was introduced into depressed urban settings in the 1970s by the Jesuit religious order, in two parochial middle schools, one coed and one all-male established in 1993 in an Eastern city. Comparisons of school structural characteristics, attendance figures, report card…

This paper describes the results of research examining the racial and socioeconomic segregation of public schools in two very different cities, Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) and Houston (Texas). Factors that explain the degree of racial and economic segregation and the consequences of this segregation for student academic achievement were examined.…

The difficulties of social complexity in discipline in large urban schools and other multiethnic schools may be treated as a resource for curriculum. This paper describes social communications curricula, strategies for their development, their usefulness particularly in large multiethnic urban schools, and a list of resources. The first of three…

Using a sample of 738 students from 4 metropolitan universities--University of Alabama at Birmingham, University of Louisville (Kentucky), University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and Wichita State University (Kansas), data from Pace's College Student Experience Questionnaire, and a modified form of Pascarella's general causal model, a study…

At the end of a 14-week program designed to help them improve their writing and editing skills and to increase their interest in college, sixth graders at School #74 in Buffalo, New York published a book of their imagined narratives. They titled the book "Kids With a Dream." Acting on the premise that school children have a better…

Teacher burnout, defined as feelings of uselessness and inconsequentiality, did not begin in the l960s, but it was aggravated by increasing lack of respect and appreciation from the general public. The great social unrest of the l960s and l970s focused on the related issues of economic and educational inequity, and much public pressure was brought…

Since an author does not provide all critical information, a text is never fully explicit; it demands that the reader/listener supply missing elements in order to form a coherent and logical whole. A study was conducted to explore both the types of responses urban first grade students made when asked to predict a narrative ending and differences…

When it was discovered that fewer than 75 residents in urban subsidized housing communities were enrolled in the adult programs at Pensacola Junior College, it was decided to develop an outreach program to extend the college's services to 650 illiterate, indigent, and unemployed adults in these communities. The program was operated out of mobile…

The subject of this panel presentation was a collaborative effort to improve writing instruction around the state of Kentucky, which resulted in the funding of several National Writing Project sites, regional workshops, and a competitive grants program to encourage middle and high school classroom teachers to develop innovative writing projects in…

A group of three conference papers, all dealing with ways to improve teacher effectiveness, is presented in this document. The first paper, "Improving Teacher Effectiveness" (Twyla Stewart), describes the efforts of the Center for Academic Interinstitutional Programs at the University of California, Los Angeles. The program focuses on…

It has been estimated that about 10 percent of the total United States population, some 23 million American adults, are functionally illiterate. About 100,000 of these persons live in the Milwaukee area and could be assisted by extension programs such as those conducted by Milwaukee Area Technical College. One of the major reasons for the…